Sen. Steve King, who pitched Colorado air tanker fleet, to sit on new wildfire committee

Republicans and Democrats in Colorado are pitching ideas that would provide the state its own fleet, or a shared one with other Western states. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

Maybe it’s fair play that state Sen. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, is the only name yet on Colorado’s new Wildfire Matters Review Committee, a bipartisan legislative panel that will take on prevention, mitigation, policies and legislation that could help save lives and property.

The committee was created in the last session, with five members from the state Senate and five from the House; three from the majority party and two from the minority in each chamber. The names of appointees was due on Monday. Wednesday, the Colorado Senate Republican staff issued a press release saying King was onboard. So far no other names have been released, and at 6 p.m. Wednesday, the state website still listed the committee members as “forthcoming.”

King went out on a political limb during the last session. He and Sen. Cheri Jahn, D-Wheat Ridge, asked for $20 million for a Colorado fleet of air tankers and a crew of specialized firefighters to respond more quickly than waiting on dispatches from the federal fleet. The money would have come from a mix of public and private sources, including a new state lottery game.

Instead, the General Assembly approved a $17.5 million plan, but it didn’t include a way to pay for it. Some Republicans said the Democratic governor, John Hickenlooper, should find the money, even if the legislature had not. This week, Hickenlooper pitched an idea to other members of Western Governors Association: share a fleet, reduce the costs.

“The evidence is clear and the problem is thoroughly defined: Colorado has nearly 4 million acres of dead trees and is still languishing in a 12th straight year of drought,” King wrote in a Denver Post op-ed piece in April, in response to an editorial that called the plan too costly. “Only last year, Colorado suffered six fatalities, lost 647 homes, and incurred $48.1 million in fire suppression costs.”

“Our state faces a clear and present danger: We are one chance lightning strike, one errant match toss or one arsonist’s blaze from a catastrophic wildfire that could dramatically change our state. God help Colorado (as well as the other lower basin states) if catastrophic fires continue to mar Colorado watersheds.”

With the tanker idea grounded, King will have a seat on the committee that could figure out how to move the idea forward, perhaps next time with a payload of money to pay for either for a Colorado fleet or the shared one the governor supports.

“The current wildfire environment with its drought conditions and abundance of dead trees is a clear and present danger to our state and its citizens,” King said in a statement Wednesday. “I look forward to working with my fellow members of the committee as we work towards decreasing the wildfire risk in Colorado.”

Colorado would apparently rather fantasize about extinguishing wildfires than preventing them, or at least taking effective steps to mitigate the damage they cause by mandating setbacks, the use of flame-resistant building materials in new construction and home repair, and the removal of fuel near homes in the wildlands. As a result of our pigheaded, retrograde approach, we have lost ~1200 homes and eight lives in less than a year, and those numbers may double in just the next few months. Colorado’s greatest liability to wildfire derives from its ideology, not a lack of air tankers or any other physical resource.

Gerald Martinez

You are correct Robert. In Colorado the federal government owns most of our land and has let CO burn because of their incompetence. It is actually a legal matter where the Federal Government is supposed to give the land back to the state but they haven’t. Who knows what their intentions are but it is clearly not in the interests of Coloradans otherwise we would have control of our own land. They block off all our land to US citizens and let them turn into timber boxes just waiting for a match. Or if we want to maybe question their intentions of using Colorado land to pay Chinese debt.

mulching consultant

Use a Fecon FTX600 mulcher to create a patchwork of fire breaks throughout the state. It will not only help with fire mitigation but it will help with erosion control, soil health, and beetle infestation.
Mulching consultant

taxpayer

Mitigation is absolutely necessary and the State needs to be more proactive on the initial attack of fire starts. Tankers are probably not going to be the answer as the cost will be prohibitive and the terrain is not favorable for fixed wing aerial attacks. The State needs to consider a similar program the Feds use and utilize Call When Needed and/ or Exclusive use helicopters. The best scenario is a rapid response to starts not the usual Fed red tape slow attack model.

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.